It’s not clear yet how to boost the microbiome. But diet is the best bet.

He points out that the skin, gut and reproductive organs are home to roughly 1,000 different species of bacteria and 5,000 different bacterial strains. Figuring out which foods or probiotics could help reshape or harmonize the microbiome for improved health is like baking a perfect cake using 5,000 different ingredients, he says. The idea that eating this fruit or popping that supplement will do the trick is a woeful oversimplification of the microbiome’s complex role in human health.